Chương 20: Starfire Pebbles

Ideas ran through Paike's head faster than he could sort through them. He had years more to study team tactics than any cultivators at his level. After going through his family's class on them the second time, since he had still not awakened, they gave him a chance to help teach it to the younger kids. By his third time teaching the subject, he knew it like the back of his hand. Before the group could consider any plans, the elders called everyone back to attention.

"Good. It seems that most of you have found your groups. If you haven't... well, your groups will be randomly assigned." Elder Ji announced with a smile. A few of the disciples groaned, especially those in groups of two or three still looking to match, but no one dared to voice a real objection. It would not go over well. Paike was extremely grateful to have found a group so easily.

"I will go over the rules, and then you'll have a short time to prepare before you're sent off. The first trial is combat. With the help of Elder Shuang, we will be putting you into a trial where you will need to hold and seize an objective against other teams. The objective will be inside a fort and fairly obvious..." Paike nodded to his teammates and began sizing them up. The elder answered a few questions, but Paike only listened with half his attention as he was busy coming up with ideas.

It was a familiar scenario, but the issue was that even though he may have practiced this variation of a war game at home several times, there were so many different possibilities of how to set it up. It all depended on what kind of fort, what kind of objective, what the time limit was, how many teams they were up against, and what other teams' strategies were—not even thinking about his own team's composition or the other teams' composition. It was a very, very flexible trial.

But luckily, looking around at his team, he felt that they were well-prepared. He and his sister knew how to fight together, and Guan Li had a certain scrappy quality about him that made Paike think that he could at least hold his own in a fight. Besides, looking around, he didn't see anyone carrying weapons. He knew the sect taught weapons, but they hadn't shown up in the curriculum yet. Perhaps if you wanted to get weapon instruction from an elder, you needed to stay in Elder Ji's class.

Motioning to his team to gather up, they huddled around, and immediately Paike took charge. His sister was already looking to him for a plan, and Guan Li and Xin Yixin weren't speaking up.

"Okay, I want to know what everyone's good at. What have you practiced? What experience do you have?" He gestured to himself.

"I'm a good close-quarters brawler. I have not actually learned any arts yet. However, I am at Middle Ruby spiritually, so I should be able to hold my own against anyone in close range." He turned to his sister.

"I have a healing art that also gives me some mobility options," she said. Paike was very surprised. She had kept the specifics of her art a secret even from him. That wasn't uncommon, but he had been slightly hurt when he couldn't wring the details from her. He had pictured his sister as more of a ranged elemental fighter, but apparently, she wanted to go the healer route. Well, as long as she wasn't purely a healer, he wouldn't worry too much.

If she could self-heal and had other combat options, it was a reasonably practical fighting style. Oftentimes, it was highly sought after, as healers were extremely valuable, and someone who could heal themselves in a fight had staying power that no one else did. It was worrying as a brother though. Healers were often taken advantage of. He was fortunate to have her on his team and glad he could watch out for her. When she didn't add anything more, he turned to the next member of their small group.

"Miss Xin?" Xin Yixin looked shy but spoke up when his eyes landed on her. She self-consciously brushed her dark hair out of her face and tucked it behind an ear.

"I have cultivated a bow art. I do not have a bow yet, but... I do have some limited range with Starfire Piercing Rain," she said, referencing an extremely famous technique. The Starfire art was well-known and widely available. Despite that, it was still extremely popular for its simplicity and raw power. The Piercing Rain was the most common technique of the art and was sometimes picked up even if the user didn't intend to learn the rest of the art.

Being able to enhance an arrow's flight with the power of starlight, making it more piercing and quick—even at a reduction of impact—was extremely useful. It was good for distractions and blinding, as well as dealing damage to heavily armored targets. Of course, without a bow, she'd be severely limited. But Paike did know that it worked with improvised projectiles as well, if massively reduced in efficiency.

"Hmm," he said.

"Start picking up a bag of pebbles or something. They'll work as projectiles in the meantime." She gave him a slight smile and hefted out a small bag from one of her longer billowing sleeves.

"I already have that covered."

"Good," Paike said and moved on. It was nice to see she was competent.

"Are bows just not allowed? I don't see any weapons. I might have missed some rules, though," Guan Li asked. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Paike cocked his head. He guessed Guan Li was right. He didn't know anything explicitly forbidding weapons; he just knew that no one in the sect really carried them. Liming was the one who spoke up.

"Weapons are allowed, but only if they are used with a specific technique. At least, that's what the rules are with dueling."

"So, if I want to use a sword, I need to have some sort of sword technique?" Paike asked with raised eyebrows. Liming shook her head.

"No. It just needs to be involved in the technique somehow. You can't just pick up a hammer and whack someone with it. But if you use a movement art to get there and whack them with a hammer, that counts." Paike seemed very surprised. He had never participated or cared for duels at home. They were for the awakened and they had not been encouraged to ignore them and focus on their studies.

"This seems rather arbitrary."

"I think it's mostly just to make sure that there's at least some arts involved in your fighting."

"What about a body-strengthening art?" Paike asked.

"Would using that mean you could use any weapon?"

"Well, I suppose that's probably allowed. I think they just don't want people relying only on pure cultivation and never learning any arts," Liming said. However, she was becoming increasingly unsure of her defense of the sect's rules.

"Sorry, we're getting off track," Paike said.

"Guan Li?"

"I'm..." Guan Li started before trailing off and looking slightly embarrassed.

"I'm used to scrapping, ambushes, and running away." He seemed embarrassed as if he thought there was something lowly about that for a cultivator. In some ways, he was lucky. Most cultivating families would have deemed this dishonorable. But the Kong family was eminently practical and didn't put aside such things without good reason. It also told Paike even more about the boy's previous life, maybe that of a street kid?

"Good," Paike said with a reassuring clap on Guan Li's shoulder, almost staggering the slender boy with its force. Paike winced, forgetting that his new strength was not something he could throw around lightly.

"You'll make a perfect scout. Get in, see what's going on, hit them, and get out. It's not the most glamorous role, but necessary and valued," he said. Liming chipped in.

"Our big sister is a scout. She's scary." Paike winced, thinking of that particular sibling. She had taught them some partially harsh lessons. Belly-crawling through fields for days with limited water was hard.

"Yeah. It is a valuable and dangerous skill. Don't let anyone tell you differently. We actually have a fairly balanced team," he said, looking around.

"Hopefully, you were all honest about what you can do instead of just trying to fit the roles." Liming laughed.

"Well, I think Guan Li is the only one who didn't come here with a plan in mind." Paike looked at her with a cocked eyebrow.

"What?" Liming shrugged and turned to her roommate.

"You think I wanted you for a roommate just because I liked your hair?"

"What?" Xin Yixin asked.

"Come on. You have the perfect build for archery," Liming said, poking the other girl in her side.

"Is that why you—!" Xin Yixin exclaimed. Paike rolled his eyes. His sister was a handful. They talked more generally about strategies and formations. Still, they only had a handful of minutes before the elder called forth the groups. The two other elders, still shadowed, one of whom was apparently Elder Shuang, formed an arching gateway leading into a black void. One by one, the teams stepped through.

When Paike's team did, there was a moment of heart-wrenching blackness, followed by an unsettling sensation as they warped to wherever or whatever they were going. Paike had been hoping that the trial would be the next day or something, giving him a chance to open a meridian, but he was as prepared as he was ever going to be. When the light hit his eyes again, he immediately breathed in and looked around.

His team was around him, regaining their senses, but he could tell immediately that they were somewhere different. The air was much thicker as if it were closer to sea level. All around them was a tall grass field, coming up to about mid-thigh on him. As far as he could see, it was just rolling hills of endless plains. Off in the distance, there was a faint speck that could very well be the city or fortress they were meant to capture and hold.

"Everyone okay?" Paike asked, receiving affirmatives from all his compatriots. He pointed.

"I see something in the distance over there. Nothing else in any other direction. That's the fortress." Guan Li confirmed with a nod.

"Yup. I see movement on the battlements."

"You see anything else on the horizon?" Paike asked. Guan Li shook his head.

"No. But this terrain makes me uneasy."

"Yeah. No place to take shelter," Paike said, thinking of mountains or even boulders to hide behind.

"It's not that," Guan Li said.

"There might be no cover, but there's so much concealment." Paike and Liming nodded in agreement. That Guan Li knew the difference was a pleasant surprise. Xin Yixin looked confused, though.

"Concealment everywhere." Paike explained.

"It blocks sight where cover is like a mountain, it can also block attacks."

"In higher realms cover doesn't exist." Liming stated with a smile. Paike rolled his eyes.

"You know uncle was teasing you when he claimed to have killed the Stone Heart Worm through the mountain."

"No he wasn't, he showed me a recording!"

"Anways!" Guan Li interrupted the bickering siblings.

"We could be snuck up on or ambushed at any point, and we'll have no way of seeing it coming." Paike grimaced. That should've been one of the first things he thought about. He was too used to dealing with high mountains, snowy peaks, and craggy ravines—not this openness. And it was messing with his tactical senses.

"You're right. You better keep a sharp eye out and be ready to be hit at any time. All right, let's head out." As one, they started jogging. Guan Li was slightly ahead and moved in a crouch as he surveyed the area, Paike bringing up the rear with Liming and Xin Yixin running in the center, protected, with Xin Yixin holding projectiles ready in case anything surprised them.

"Do you think this is a real place?" Xin Yixin asked as they ran.

"I don't know. Could be a dreamland or just some random part of the world."

"Hmm. Those higher-realm cultivators are certainly something. Could even be a pocket reality one of them made," Liming explained. Paike didn't admonish them for their conversation. Neither one of them was truly distracted, their eyes constantly scanning the grass around them, looking for anything other than the stalks of wild wheat waving in the wind.